Princess Party

A couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to host a Princess Party for Lillie and a few of her friends.  They all came dressed in their Princess best ready for some fun and pampering.

My hairdresser, Marcy,  does mobile parties where she comes to your house and does the hair, nails, and make up for any occasion.  This was perfect for our Princess Party and the girls were THRILLED that they were able to be primped and pampered like a real Princess.

The prep for this party was simple.  All I did was make some chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate mousse topping (that were in pink polka dot cupcake holders of course) and I gave out stick on earrings. Oh, and I made sure to have milk on hand to go with the cupcakes and striped straws to make it a little more fun.  The girls loved it.  They talked and played while they waited for their turn either getting their hair or their nails done.  It was so cute to watch them!

They each were able to choose their favorite color of nail polish to get their fingernails and toenails painted with.  It was fun to see if they would choose a color or a glitter polish.  Marcy provided all the polish and had glitter hairspray for their hair and even had glittery bobby pins for each girl.

If you are thinking of doing a Princess Party for your own girls, you should definitely give my hair dresser Marcy a call.  She was great with the girls and made them look like real princesses for sure!  She does other kinds of mobile parties as well.  I was thinking that if I had a teenager daughter this would be a fun party idea as well.  Wouldn't it be fun to have a pampering night where everyone gets their nails and make up done or something like that?  I have to tell you that Marcy also did my hair and make up for my wedding and she did my sister's for her wedding.  It was so nice that I just had to wake up the morning of my wedding and she came to my house to get it all done, and I LOVED the way it turned out.  She is very good at what she does and is very reasonably priced.

If you are interested in doing a mobile party, you can call Marcy at 801-404-7114 and she will get you scheduled.  I promise that you will be SO glad that you did.  Just look at how happy it made the little princesses at my party! :)

Olliblocks & a Bag Tutorial

 A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon the cutest DIY blocks in the world.  They are called Olliblocks, and as soon as I saw them, I knew I needed to make them for my girls.  How fun are they?  My girls LOVE them.  They love making the people have monkey feet or the girls have boy bodies.  They are just adorable and so so fun. There is a full tutorial over on the Ollibird website for how to make the blocks.

What I wanted to show you is how to make the bag that I made to hold all of my blocks.

This project took me about 20 minutes to make and is so easy!  You can use this bag for holding anything, but it really is perfect for holding the blocks.  Let's get started.

You are going to need two coordinating fabrics, and some cording.  I picked mine up at Hobby Lobby.  You don't really need a ton of fabric since the bag isn't that big, but if you wanted a bigger bag, this tutorial works as well.  Just adjust the measurements to your needs.

I cut the folded fabric to be 10X12 inches.  (Make sure that you fold the fabric and then cut it out to be 10X12 so that altogether the fabric would be 10X24 inches.  Make sense?)  Just the right size!

Once you have your pieces cut, sew up the sides of the fabric leaving the top part open.  Do this for both pieces of fabric.   Once you have sewn the sides, turn the patterned fabric inside out (or whichever fabric you will have on the outside.) Then place the solid fabric inside the patterned fabric so that the right sides are touching and the seams on the sides match up.  Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew all the way around leaving a small opening so that you can turn the bag right side out.  

Once the bags are sewn together, you will turn it right side out, pin all the way around so that the opening will be sewn shut, and the sew 1/4" all the way around the top of the bag.  Next, sew a line that is 1 inch away from the first line so that you have a double line all the way around.  This will act as a tube for where your cording will go.

Next, go to one of your side seams and cut two slits into the top fabric ONLY.  Don't cut all the way through or it won't work as well.   To make sure that the slits wouldn't rip, I backstitched a couple of times at the top and bottom of the slits.  Next, run your cording through one slit and the tubing you created and then out the other slit.

Lastly, I knotted the cording so that it couldn't be pulled through the bag, and I also melted the edges of the cording so that it wouldn't unravel on me.

That's it!  Now fill it with some adorable Olliblocks and give it to your kids to play with.  Trust me.  They are going to LOVE them!

Backpack for School

I recently attended a blogger event that was held at IKEA in Draper, UT.  If you have never been there, you are seriously missing out.  They were so hospitable!  They let me bring my daughters with me, treated us to breakfast, and then let us have a mini shopping spree. 

Since my daughter is starting school next week, I knew that I should probably get a backpack for her.  I LOVE these that they are selling.  I also found this fun notebook, and it got the wheels turning in my head.  I just HAD to combine the two.

Using acrylic paint, and a Sharpie marker, I transformed this backpack into a one of a kind that my daughter will always know is hers.  At first when I put the paint on, I was a little worried it was a stupid idea.  BUT as soon as I got the Sharpie marker on it, I decided that I liked it after all. Take a look at the difference a little black marker can make!

I love the sketchy look of it, and the bright colors.  Even better than that though, is that my daughter loves it.

IKEA released their catalog and gave us one at the event, and flipping through it I saw that there are a lot of awesome new products in the store.  They have revamped a lot of their stuff.  You should definitely go check it out!

Thanks IKEA!

Crochet by Allie

I was recently contacted by Allie who is the owner of Crochet by Allie.  Allie sells all sorts of cute crocheted items that she makes by hand.  I wanted to share with you my entire experience from ordering to receiving my purchase in the mail because I think it was one of the best I've ever had!

I was able to choose one hat and one hair clip from the site to review.  I didn't realize just how hard that was going to be!  Talk about eye candy!  There are so many adorable hats and they are all customizable! 

These character hats are so fun.  You can customize both the color and the size.  Plus, if you order the monster hat, you can choose how many eyes, teeth, horns etc.  I love the options!

If you aren't into character hats, no biggie.  There are some other adorable options for everyday wear as well. 

After I chose the hat (I will show you which one I chose in a minute) I started looking at the hair accessories.  These are adorable as well.  I don't think I can say enough how much I love these.

Once I had made my choice, I ordered through the site and was pleasantly surprised by how easily I was able to choose all of my colors and sizing.  I checked out and waited for my items to arrive.  Little did I know that Allie would have the hat and bow made and sent to me 5 days later!  I was so impressed.  She was very fast in her delivery, and was so great to work with.

Now, the best part.  Here is what I ordered.  I got the Pom Pom Posh hat, and a cute bow in turquoise.  Allie even threw in a cute little flower bobby pin!

I like to refer to the hat as Lillie's pom pom hat of rainbow cuteness.  My items were VERY well made.  The quality was so impressive and the yarn is awesome!  I love the colors.  I just love it.  The bow is adorable too!  I was able to choose which type of clip I wanted on the back, and chose the alligator type clip.  It is perfect for me to use either in my daughter's hair, or even on a headband.  Love, love these!  And because I couldn't NOT show you how cute Lillie looks in her new hat, here's some cuteness for your viewing pleasure.

If you have been looking for a fun gift to give, or to buy for your own littles, I would definitely recommend Crochet by Allie as the place to go.  You will not be disappointed!

Check back tomorrow where there will be a fun giveaway from Allie!  You won't want to miss it!

Princess Finger Puppets

Yesterday, I got together with some friends that I have known most of my life.  They both have little girls about the same ages as mine, and we thought it would be fun to let them play while we did a fun little project.

These finger puppets are so easy and fun to make, and the little girls were SO excited to get to play with them.  They kept coming in to check on us while we were making them.

You can find the pattern to make these over on Made it on Monday.  I decided to add lips and googlie eyes just because I thought it was cute. 

I am thinking I might just add these to the quiet book that I have been making for over a year.  Wouldn't that be a fun page with a castle and maybe a prince or two?  I think so!

DIY Toddler Leggings

 I have seen all sorts of tutorials around for baby legs.  Don't get me wrong.  I like baby legs because they make it easier to change diapers and I love seeing a little thigh poking out the top.  BUT I also hate them because they don't stay up well and they end up being more work than they are worth.

About a month ago, I had an epiphany.  Leggings.  I know it doesn't sound that original, but hear me out.  I found some knee highs in the women's section at Target and the wheels started turning when I laid them down like this.

Do you see it?  I realized you could make leggings from a pair of $3 socks so easily!

Here's how you do it.

Begin by cutting the toe off of the socks.  I found it was best to cut them out at the same time so they were exactly the same. 

Next, make a cut down the bottom side of the foot of the sock.  It should start where you cut the top off, and end right where the heel should go.  Do that on both socks.

You will need to pin the right sides together next.  The best way to do this is to start by matching up the middle and pinning up both sides one after the other.  Then sew along the edge.

Turn right side out and it will look like this.

Last, take some elastic and measure around the waist of whoever is going to be wearing these.  My daughter had a measurement of 17 1/2 inches without stretching the elastic.  Pin the elastic into the top of the leggings so that the sock is folded over the top of it.  Then simply do a zig zag stitch all the way around (sewing on top of both the fabric and the elastic).  The zig zag stitch makes it so there is a little stretch.

 Put them on and let your little one enjoy the cuteness.

I also did some grey ones that I love.

What do you think?  It's easy, inexpensive, versatile and so so cute!

An Apron for Lillie

I've mentioned before that my daughter Lillie loves to cook in the kitchen with me.  Everyday she will ask me several times if we can cook.  I figured it was about time that she had her own apron to use while cooking. 

I really just made it up as I went, but I will tell you how I did it. 

I started by drawing my idea on some freezer paper to use as a pattern.  Here is a picture of what my pattern looked like.  There is the main apron part as well as a pocket.

I cut the pieces out using my patterned fabric as well as a plain white fabric for the lining.  It helped to give it stability as well as helped me hide all of my seams inside.

Here is the apron with the lining already sewn to the pieces as well as the pocket being sewn to the front.  I didn't sew the bottom or the sides on the bottom because I still needed to add the fabric tie backs.

The ties went on and then after I sewed the sides up, I added the ruffle on the bottom.

Here it is all finished.  I used a ric-rac for the neck and added buttons (non-functional) to the front just for cuteness.

 I am really pleased with it and hope that Lillie will like it too.  Hopefully I can get some pictures of this baby in action.

Toddler Bed Tutorial

I finally can sit and breathe long enough to get this written up. 

This is for anyone that is wanting to make one of these for their little toddler, or needs a comfy place to sit and snuggle with your baby.

(I will not be giving specific measurements as every bed will be different based on the headboard and footboard that is used.)

To begin, you will need an old queen sized headboard and footboard.  Cut the footboard in half.  The two halves become the sides of the bed.

To get my sides to be the right height, I used blocks of wood under the front legs of the sides.  I will point it out to you in a min.

Attach the sides to the headboard using "L" brackets. 

Then you will need a 1X2 that is the length of your headboard.  Screw it directly into the headboard.  This will be where the boards go to hold your mattress. (it is the lighter wood that is horizontal on the headboard.)

I also added molding to the front of the bed legs.  It helped to make it look more pulled together.  All you need is a little liquid nails and some painters tape.  Let the glue dry and you will be good to go.  It is not an area that will be holding any weight, so glue works perfectly.

Now, sand it like crazy.

You will need some 1X6s for the next part.  Measure the distance between the two legs and cut your 1X6 to that size.  It is going to be the front of the bed.  I used "L" brackets to attach it as well.  Then, just like you did with the headboard, attach a 1X2 directly into the 1X6.  It will be the front part of where the mattress boards will rest.  Measure the distance from the front 1X2 to the back 1X2 and that will tell you how long to make the boards to support your mattress.  I used 1X6s and 6 seemed to be just the right number to give the needed support.

This is where pictures become a little scarce, but I will try to do my best to describe the next steps. 

I wanted to have a shelf underneath the bed to hold toys and whatever else my daughter wants to put there.  I got 1/2 inch plywood and had it cut to the size of under the bed.  You can't see it, but the plywood rests on the blocks of wood in the front.  In the back, I got a 1X4 and connected it to the headboard along the floor.  Then I screwed through the plywood into the 1X4 to give it support.

Next, I wanted the front to be a little more supported, so I got a square piece of wood and attached it to the front, middle part of the bed. 

I ran a little molding across the front to cover the ugly plywood and then put on a coat of paint.

Here is my advice to you.  Measure your doorway in relationship to your bed.  Will the bed fit through your doorway once it is assembled?  If the answer is no, you will need to make it so that you can un-assemble and then re-assemble if needed.  Otherwise, you will be just as discouraged as I was.  I had a couple of hours to go before my post had to be submitted to the contest when I tried to bring the bed into my daughter's room.  I cut it really close to the deadline that day. At least I made it and I didn't even swear once.  (outloud) 

I am so pleased with the way it all turned out.

This happened quite by accident, but trying to get the bed in the room caused some of the paint to rub off/chip off.  So I decided that instead of re-painting, the bed would become a shabby sheek bed and I am glad I did.  It really added a lot to the bed and I love the result.  I sanded a couple of other parts to make it all look like it worked.

I hope that my tutorial all made sense for you.  Please let me know if there are any questions that you have.  Also, if you decide to make one of your own, I would LOVE to see it.  Send me a link!

If you haven't seen it already, there is now a facebook page for Just Between Friends!  Go ahead and click like.  you can find it on the sidebar of my blog.  There is no pressure to like it, I just thought it would be a fun way to get to know my readers better.